May 04, 2012

Repurposing Leftover Meatloaf

By Nora

Meatloaf is one of those dishes, that if you're a meatloaf person, really just hits the spot in terms of filling comfort food. However, it's not the kind of food that people generally like as leftovers. I'll sometimes eat it cold on a sandwich if there's absolutely no other options, but it's best eaten on the day it's made.

So, last night I found myself with half a leftover meatloaf and absolutely no desire to eat it in its current form, but also did not want to throw out/waste that much food. Then I had an inspired idea after noticing a pie shell in the freezer that I had no plans for using. Shepherd's Pie! Generally, Shepherd's Pie is made with seasoned ground beef mixed with a gravy and veggies, and topped with mashed potatoes. The leftover meatloaf I had was made with ground turkey, but it was already very well seasoned so I figured all I needed to do was chop it up into little cubes and make a gravy for it. Here's what I did: I put 2 tbsp of butter into a pan, melted it, and whisked in 2 tbsp of flour to make a roux. Once that was all mixed together, I added 2 tbsp of Worchestershire sauce and 1 cup of beef broth. Once that was all thickened, I threw in a cup of cooked corn (also leftover) and the chopped up meatloaf. I let that simmer on low heat for a few minutes while I pre-cooked the pie shell until light golden brown. I had some baby potatoes on hand that I boiled and then mashed (mixing in some sour cream, butter, and milk, of course), and then after I added the meat mixture to the pie shell, I spread the potatoes on top. Here's an in-progress photo of what it looked like:

Then I put the broiler on high, sprinkled some paprika on top of the potatoes, and put it in the oven for about 8 minutes until the potatoes were a little browned. One thing I MUST EMPHASIZE: put tinfoil around the edge of the pie crust or the broiler will burn it to a crisp (since it's already been baked).

It was seriously delicious. And I was so impressed with my culinary creativity that I automatically entered to compete on Chopped (just kidding. but I did consider it.)